Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22
Chapter 30
Oracle of Restoration
This is another word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:The Lord, God of Israel says: “Write in a book everything I have communicated to you,
The Lord says: “Your wound is incurable, your injury is grievous.
There is no one to plead your cause. There is a remedy for an ulcer but no healing for you!
All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you. For I struck you as an enemy does, with cruel punishment, because of your great guilt and the wickedness of your sin.
Why cry out now that you are hurt? Is there no cure for your pain? I have done this to you because of your great crime and grievous sin.
The Lord says: “I will restore my people into Jacob’s tents and pity his dwellings. The city will be rebuilt over its ruins, And the palace will be restored to its proper place.
From them will come songs of praise and the sound of merrymaking. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few. I will bestow honor on them, and they shall not be despised.
Their children will be as before, and their community will be established before me. I will ask their oppressors to account.
Their leader will be one of themselves; their ruler shall emerge from their midst. I will bring him close for who would dare to approach me?
You shall be my people, and I shall be your God.”
Commentaries
Oracle of Restoration.
This section begins Jeremiah’s so-called “Book of Consolation” (chapters 30-31). The Lord declares a new life after the exile. The image of childbirth with its pains illustrates this renewal. Just as in the conquest of the land during Joshua’s time (Jos 1:15), the focus now is on the fact that it is God who grants the land to the people to take possession of it (3). The pallor and weakness of men, and their inability to give birth, show that it is not by their strength that they will inherit the land and that only God can do what is impossible for them. Salvation is entirely God’s initiative, which Israel does not deserve.